Embodiment – as we are anyway thinking with our knee

„I am thinking with my knee anyway“ – said Josef Beuys. Some people see their body below the head mainly as a vehicle to transport them from A to B. Others have a relationship with their bodies during sport, hiking, yoga and other activities that are generally healthy and increase their well-being. Few people in our cultural context have a conscious relationship with their body while at work – unless their work is concretely physical.

In our professional context we are socialized to refer to our mind. We have to and want to act rationally. We know that since Descartes. Or not, as present-day research is describing something totally different: The mind is always embedded in a body – and the body in a context, the environment. What we are thinking is never disconnected from what we feel and in which context we currently are.

In our older brain areas, we have an emotional experience memory which has stored important memories based on experiences we made. Further than that, it is our access to evolutionary learning from our ancestors. These brain areas cannot communicate via language but through affect (feelings) and images. We can sense the emotional experience memory through our body.

We can utilize our body as an important source of information once we learn to listen to it. Through our body feedback, we have access to our gut feeling, the intuition. Here, we sense whether something is drawing us closer or repulsing; whether we feel curious or hesitant; where we feel an inner “yes” or “no”. In comic language, this is the typical “mmmpf” or “yummm”, as we mostly don’t have words for these feelings (affects). Those feelings, coupled with our rational mind can enable us to take more coherent decisions.

This means that at times, we may make better estimations and decisions than when only using the mind as a source. It needs to be mentioned here, that no-one makes decisions on a purely rational level. Our central brain is ready within milliseconds to send us images and feelings that guide our decisions. Often, the real decision is taken on that level and post-rationalised by the mind - as it is always possible to find good reasons. Listening to our body feedback can, however, contribute to hearing and utilizing those inner signals more consciously.

How can we use this in our professional lives? The higher the complexity of a situation or context, the less we can rely on rational analyses. We have to rather learn to think laterally and include our intuition. Beyond that, we can use our body feedback to make good and healthy decisions for ourselves in the long run. And, last but not least, we can embody and hence integrate our desired goals and inner attitudes.